Pages

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

And the Next Thing I Knew, I Was Ripping Up the Carpet.

Hey, there are only so many times a girl can hear "why don't you rip up a little corner of the carpet and take a little peek?" before she succumbs to temptation. And once I ripped up that little corner, I discovered that I reeeeally like ripping up carpet. (It makes the most satisfying sound!)

Before I knew it, I had gathered some proper tools and put my workin' clothes on.

Many satisfying ripping sounds later, I had this.

Don't worry, I did a little research first though. I didn't realize so many people paint their subfloors! What an excellent idea! So rebellious! (Here's a blog with great advice, BTW.)

51 comments:

Oh Gertie, I love you! Who else could tell their husband, "But honey, I checked with all 5000 of my friends and it's unanimous, the carpet must go".Don't know if you said that, but it makes for a funny story!I didn't comment yesterday, but I do not like carpet in the sewing room. Eeww! I get more frustrated with the snippets of threads you cannot clean up!This looks like a great idea. i look forward to follow up pictures. I might go this direction in my daughter's bedroom!

I have a painted floor in my sewing room and LOVE it! Easy to clean/sweep. I have a goal of getting every bit of carpet out of my house in the next 2 years with only area rugs. Thank heavens I only have 3 bedrooms to go:-) Good luck and have fun!

Good for you! I love a woman that can make a quick decision! Even though I advised to rip it out, I still have carpeting in my room. I am now motivated by you to get it out of there. I will have to move about six years worth of sewing room 'stuff' to do this though but it will be worth it. Enjoy!

Good for you! I have carpet in my sewing room that I'd loooove to rip up, but I'm in a rental so the (ugly brown)carpet stays :( My mom ripped up the carpet in *her* sewing room (with my ::ahem:: encouragement) and painted the subfloor and it looks really lovely. Can't wait to see what your room ends up looking like!

Gertie, you're great. And you're right. It's better to have a little work at the beginning as being hacked off all the time. And you'll spend a lot of time in your atelier. And I'm looking forward for more photos of the floor and walls.

I saw that stencil too! I love it. I have ripped up many a carpets in my lifetime (rental or no, I don't care about my deposit if the carpet is disgusting!) You probably know, but don't forget to get some quarter-round to finish the bottom of the baseboards. Pro tip: Paint the floor first, add quarter-round after, and then you don't have to worry about being neat when painting close to the baseboards. Also, do yourself a favor and get floor paint, and be willing to do two coats of sealer. I love it when home DIY meets sewing!

Love the lace-painted floor idea! Don't forget to seal it with a clear hard wearing finish - so all your hard work doesn't wear away! You can get some great fast drying stuff, and start in the corner furthest away from the door way (so you get get out cleanly between coats LOL!).

Also, as mentioned before by others the KOLONFloor protector from IKEA ($19.99, #Article Number: 448.811.00) are fab - I'd say an essential to overlay your painted floor for really super-duper protection over the soon-to be painted surface! I have them in my sewing room and love them I have them for chair/seat to - stopping the wheels from causing damage).

IKEA say (from their site):GOOD TO KNOW - Koln Floor ProtectorSuitable for most types of floors and flat-woven rugs. Not suitable for cork floors or heated wooden floors.If the floor protector is left lying on the floor for a long period a vacuum may form and cause damage to your floor. Therefore, lift the floor protector at regular intervals for ventilation.

First I love the lace stenciling idea! Definitely do that! Second, I completely understand the joy that comes with ripping carpet out. My husband and I re-carpeted our entire house when we moved in and decided to save money by removing the old nasty carpet ourselves. It was quite fun and I learned that I like demo work a little too much.

I used this same lace stencil on my wood floor in my art studio. It is beautiful and a joy to look at every time I go into that room. It was a lot of work, but worth it. I did not seal the floor as I figure that it will look nice as it ages and gets a little worn. A year and a half has passed since I stenciled the floor and it still looks new.

I almost commented yesterday "why don't you just pull up a little corner and see what's under there..." but it looked to me like you had more than enough advice already, haha. Ripping up carpet is veryn therapeutic.

Those stencilled lace floors are gorgeous, I can't wait to see the finished result.

The first thing we did when we moved into our house was rip out all the carpets (a necessity rather than a practicality, as they were foul). But I can concur that it's fun ripping them out! Not so much fun were the pointy prickly rails that keep them in place... I remember shredding my fingers to pieces trying to remove those and I recommend gloves!

I grinned when I saw what you'd been up to. I laughed when I saw how many people were being inspired to rip up THEIR carpets! :-D I'd do it myself, except we did it to get to the hardwood floors years ago & there's not a carpet left in the house to rip up; we only have area rugs. The painted subfloor sounds like a fantastic idea to go with until you can afford flooring. Love the stencil!

Very excited to read that you've ripped up the carpet! I can imagine that would have been satisfying. I will be SERIOUSLY jealous if you have lace floors! :) I have boring tiles which are rather functional as we live in the tropics, but boring nonetheless.

Woo hop! Way to go! Yes ripping carpet is super satisfying. I love the stencil and the colors will be lovely. Can't wait for the pics! No offense to those that love carpet, but if you have ever pulled one out--they are gross.

Gertie, I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but you can use lace to stencil. Cars often have a lace paint job, and I asked about how it is done. They tape lace where it is wanted and spray over it. When dry, rip the lace off and you have a lace paint job. Can't you just see using the stenciling lace as a wall cover when you are done?

Haha well done for giving in! There are only so many pins and pieces of thread that you can drop! Wow that stenciled floor looks amazing, looking forward to seeing what you end up doing! XxxX http://thesecondhandrose.blogspot.co.uk/

Once my husband came home and I had ripped out the carpet in the upstairs on the stairs and kicked down the ugly banister. He wasn't too happy about it then but he laughs at it now... though he doesn't leave me alone with big projects looming. It's like a sunburn I just couldn't stop pulling it out!!!!!

Is this the tip of the iceberg slide into renovation blogging? Hmmm. This is cracking me up. Get good advice on the wood filler. It could crack out or shrink and crack. It also will probably dry harder than the wood and be a pain to sand. And it wont match the wood grain but that's not a problem if you are painting it. The link you gave mentions using caulking. I have a (bouncy) plywood attic floor- filled cracks with caulking and it worked well. Than painted it.Have fun!

The only comment I don't see made is from a builder perspective -- I used to work for one. The subfloor is under another layer for a reason -- crappy materials sometimes and spaces, etc., that would be covered with nicer materials. But if you like the look, go for it! I sew in the basement and have crappy carpeting over crappy cement. I'm jealous!

Carpet or not, pins can make such a mess out of a floor. However, since you did get rid of the carpet you may want to look into a magnetic sweeper. My husband has one in the garage. It's on two wheels so it would manuever around your new hard surface floor wonderfull. You can probably pick up one at Home Depot with your wood filler etc. Have fun!!! Post pictures. mopar4us@paulbunyan.net